One Last Shindig A Hey Arnold! Fanfiction
by hatterlet
Summary: The P.S. 118 gang has graduated and are going out to spend their last night together, with the exception of one football headed friend...
1. Chapter 1

Disc: I do not own Hey Arnold in any way. That privilege belongs to the great Craig Bartlett and the idiotic Nickelodeon for getting rid of the most brilliant producer they ever had. BRING BACK CRAIG!

_One Last Shindig_

_Hatterlet_

"It is my pleasure to introduce- our graduating class!" A flurry of cheers erupted through the gym of Hillwood high as the graduates tossed their mortarboards into the air.

Valedictorian Phoebe Heyerdahl stepped away from the podium and joined the recessional as the band played. As she reached the double doors at the far end of the gym, the neat line of graduates dispersed to various friends and family members.

"Phoebe-Chan!" She heard a familiar voice and turned to see her father, Kyo, and mother, Reba. She raced over to them, robe flapping slightly. She stopped a few feet away and bowed before launching herself at her parents.

"We're so proud of you, hon." Her mother drawled.

"Phoebe" said a stern voice. She turned to see her former principal, Principal Wartz. He extended a hand to her. "Very pleased to have a Valedictorian from P.S. 118." He stated, shaking her hand.

"Thank you, Sir!" she piped, glowing from the compliment.

"Hey Pheebs!" Another voice shouted. Phoebe looked up to see her best friend, Helga, waving from across the parking lot packed with happy faces. Excusing herself from her parents with another bow, she began to push her way through the crowd.

When she finally reached Helga she noticed a group of her classmates standing near her. When she saw Gerald the tall, dark boy gave her a coy wink and Phoebe blushed slightly.

"Hey, Pheebs. Tall-hair boy here has decided we're all going bowling. One last shindig. You in?" Helga asked with all her usual charm. Phoebe glanced around at the group assembled. In addition to Helga and Gerald, Rhonda, Curly, Eugene, Sheena, Nadine, Harold, Stinky, Sid, and Lila were gathered. In short, the whole P.S. 118 crew. With the exception of one, of course. She glanced at Gerald, questioningly, and he nodded and smiled.

"Definitely!" she told Helga.

* * *

When all the driving arrangements were finally figured out, it just so happened that Gerald and Phoebe ended up alone. That was just fine with him.

Both of the teenagers clambered into Gerald's slightly beat up red pick-up truck. He started the engine then glanced across at his gentle friend. She had been such a comfort to him for the last couple of years, especially after his best friend moved away. Gerald sighed, and then remembered the plan.

Phoebe sat with her hand clasped in her lap, lost in thought. He reached over and grabbed one of them, which he then squeezed tightly. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes." She said. "Just thinking about Helga. She seems so-" she searched for the right word "disconnected anymore. Since _he_ left."

"Don't worry about it" Gerald said. "I've got that covered."

"I know." Phoebe smiled again, and then scooted across the bench seat until she sat right next to him. Gerald grinned, then let her hand go and instead draped her arm around his shoulder and hugged her close. Picturing the small box he had hidden in his glove compartment, he allowed a wave of happiness to envelop him. With that, he gunned the engine and raced out of the parking lot.

It was going to be an interesting night.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

Helga squealed into a spot in the bowling alley parking lot. Somehow in the chaos that was the High School parking lot after graduation, her little five-passenger car was crammed with several more people that was typically smiled upon.

She slammed the car into park and swiveled in her seat. Even though she had grown decidedly less nasty throughout High School, she still had a way with her fellow classmates.

"Alright, everybody out!" She growled. Three car doors popped open as Sheena, with Eugene in tow, Nadine, Rhonda, Lila, and Curly piled out into the balmy May evening. She watched as they trooped in the building, then as the vehicles holding Phoebe and Gerald, then Harold, Stinky, and Sid regurgitated their respective passengers into the bowling alley. She allowed herself a brief moment of annoyance that Phoebe had abandoned her for Tall-Hair boy, but she was used to that. A lot more since- but then she stopped herself. No use in getting herself upset on her graduation night. But still…

Helga sighed, welcoming the silence. With a practiced motion she drew a small, delicate golden locket out from inside her shirt. Much smaller and easier to conceal than the one she had carried throughout elementary school, she snapped it open to reveal a tiny photograph. Helga smiled, mentally caressing the football-shaped head, smoothing the golden hair.

Just looking at his picture still conjured poetry up in her mind. She fumbled for the small notebook she always kept in her glove compartment. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of something moving in the backseat in her rear-view mirror. Having had no use lately for 'Old Betsy', she clenched a fist, planning on surprising her would-be assailant.

Before she could attack, however, the rhythmic breathing and tell-tale glint of light on spectacles let her know just who her enemy was.

"Brainy!" she howled.

"Uh-hi." He wheezed.

"I said out!" She shrieked. "Now get out before I revert to my old ways!" As he fumbled for a door handle, she heard a knock on her window. She groaned. "Aw, criminy, what now?" She rolled down the window- it was Phoebe. "Yeah, Pheebs?" she asked sardonically as she unlocked her doors. As soon as he heard the 'pop', Brainy scrambled out of the backseat and sprinted for relative safety inside.

"Helga?" Phoebe queried. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Well, you were taking an abnormally long time exiting your vehicle. I was beginning to get apprehensive. I hypothesized that something must be troubling you."

"Nah, I'm fine. I just-" she paused, then continued. "-need some ice cream." She opened her door and headed inside. Phoebe smiled knowingly and followed.

Helga walked inside the building and was immediately blasted by light and sound. She walked up to the counter to get her shoes, but Phoebe tugged her away.

"It's alright, Helga. I've taken care of everything." Helga glanced at her dark-haired friend, and then shrugged.

The gang was already taking up several lanes. As she began to lace on the bowling shoes Phoebe produced for her the lights switched off and were replaced by black-lights. Helga looked up in time to see Eugene, disoriented by the sudden light change, loose his balance as he began his roll and topple head first into the gutter.

"I'm ok!" came his usual response as Sheena let out a gasp and went to his rescue, much to his chagrin.

Suddenly, a hush went over the group. Helga turned to see Gerald warmly greeting a tall young man who had just entered the alley. Although he was much taller than she remembered, and his blond hair no longer stood in straight points, there was no mistaking that distinctively shaped head. She slowly got to her feet, her normal shoes falling from her lap and dropping heavily to the floor.

"Arnold?" she whispered.

* * *

Hey, so there is the first chapter. Let me know what you think. I already have more written, but tell me what _you _think should happen. I'm always open to suggestions! Where has Arnold been? What does everyone think about him coming back? R&R please!


	2. Chapter 2

Disc: I do not own Hey Arnold in any way. That privilege belongs to the great Craig Bartlett and the idiotic Nickelodeon for getting rid of the most brilliant producer they ever had. BRING BACK CRAIG!

_One Last Shindig_

_Hatterlet_

_Chapter 2_

Gerald sprinted across the tile floor of the bowling alley entrance. All the sounds of his friends faded behind him. Only one thought was in his mind.

"Hey Gerald." He stopped, grinning like a madman at his best friend. Had it really only been three years? It seemed like so much longer.

Two days ago, Gerald had checked his email and found something that made him happier than when Phoebe agreed to go out with him; a letter from Arnold.

He said he would be coming back to Hillwood to visit his old friends for a few weeks before heading for college. Unfortunately, his plane didn't land until it was too late to make it for graduation. Gerald immediately sent him a message back. Arnold replied within minutes, and soon they had hammered out plans for the bowling trip.

Gerald studied his friend. A few years could really change a person. Arnold still wore his blue hat, but the hair around it was tamed to lie down instead of standing in multiple points. He had grown, astoundingly so. Even as a freshman, Arnold had been shorter than most of the male students. Now he was almost as tall as Gerald, no mean feat as Gerald was 6'3" (counting hair).

Gerald grinned, knowing Arnold was looking forward to seeing everyone.

"It's good to have you back, man." Gerald said. Arnold smiled.

"Good to be back. Listen, Ger- is she here?" He asked, grabbing Gerald's arm.

"Who? Lila?" he asked, thinking of the cheerful girl his friend had pined for throughout elementary school. Expecting an answer, Gerald turned. Instead, Arnold stood frozen, eyes locked on a figure across the room. Gerald looked back and forth, and then realized whose eyes Arnold was currently drowning in. None other than the eyes of Helga G. Pataki.

* * *

She was nothing like he remembered. The testy young girl he had in his memeory was replaced by someone totally different. Sure, she was still blonde, and had a penchant for pink and bows, but she was not the girl he had left sobbing under the treehouse that day-

* * *

The day was cool for a June afternoon. Helga sat with her heels tucked under her, grateful for the peace and quiet after her hectic last day as a freshman.

"Hey Helga." A voice snapped her out of her daydreams. Or did it? For standing before her was the same flaxen-haired angel that she dreamed so much about.

"What do you want, Football Head?" she asked flippantly, slipping back into her mask of hatefulness. Arnold sighed, wishing that today, of all days, she wouldn't have tried to hide. He sat down next to her and looked up at the crumbling treehouse above their heads.

"Wow, this old place is really falling apart." He commented.

"Doi." Helga said, but not quite as sharply as usual. Absently, she picked at a hole in the knee of her jeans. "That's what happens, Arnold. If you don't take care of thing,s they startto fall apart."

Arnold noticed a change in her voice and sensed she was no longer talking about the treehouse.

"Listen, Helga. There is something important that I need to tell you" She glanced up, a strange look flitting across her face.

"You do?" she stuttered, voice catching in her throat. "Um, me too." He looked over at her and watched her twist her hands nervously in her pink clad lap, bow atop her head quivering slightly as she shook in anxiety.

"Oh! Okay, um, you first." Arnold offered.

"No! I mean, you said it first. Go ahead." Helga wrapped her arms around her long legs and looked at him, waiting for him to go on. Not expecting this type of reaction from his nemesis, Arnold plowed ahead.

"Alright. Um, Helga, I know we've had our rough times and all, with everything. I know you sometimes really didn't like me and all, but I thought you had a right to know this." He paused, looking over at her. She stared back at him, eyes wide.

"Go on." She whispered breathlessly.

"Well, I'm just going to say it" she nodded, eyes never leaving his face. "Helga, I'm moving."

Her jaw dropped.

"What?" she asked, deadpan.

"Well, my parents have finally found a permanent place to stay where they can work without having to travel everywhere. And Grandpa is getting awfully old. Dad is worried about how much longer he can take care of himself. So Grandpa and Grandma are moving out too- to go live with me and my parents." For some reason, Arnold could not bring himself to look at Helga as he delivered this statement.

"But- but what about the boarding house?" she asked frantically, grasping at straws.

"Grandpa has handed it over to Mr. Hyunh. His daughter is coming back since she got married and they are going to help him take care of things." Finally, he tore his gaze away from the absolutely fascinating grass at his feet and looked over at his companion. He was shocked to see a tear rolling down her nose. "Helga! Are you all right? What's wrong?!" He reached out a hand to comfort her. Helga knocked it away and scrubbed futily at her face.

"It's nothing Football Head. Dust in my eye or something." She looked at him. "Is that all you came to say?" she had absolutely no sarcasm or hatefulness in her voice, just a depth of sadness."

"Yeah, I guess so. What were you going to tell me?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter anymore. " Another tear splattered into her wet lap.

"Are you sure?" Arnold asked, knowing there was something else and wishing she would open up to him for once in their lives.

"I'm sure. Just get out of here." She didn't embellish her statement with any insults. She just looked at him with immense pain in her eyes and said "Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, Helga."

"Don't forget me."

"That would be impossible." She smiled a small, sad smile, and lurched to her feet. Extending a hand, she helped Arnold to his. He hesitated for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug. He felt her panic for a second, then relax. "One last thing, Arnold?" she whispered in his ear.

"What?" she paused, then pulled away and said

"It wasn't the heat of the moment."

He stared at her for a minute, uncomprehendingly. Then he heard a voice-

"Hey, shortman! Let's get this show on the road!" Arnold had nearly forgotten his grandfather idling in the Packard down the street.

"I've gotta go." Arnold said, taking a step away from Helga. "I'm sorry this is so sudden." She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself.

"You do what you have to do, Arnold" He smiled one last time at her and raced down the street towards the waiting car. As he clambered into the backseat, he took one last look at the treehouse.

Helga sat beneath it, face buried in her hands and shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

_Heat of the moment, Heat of the moment_

Helga's last words haunted him as they sped away from the city he had lived his entire life in. They floated around through his skull, then pressed themselves against his lips until he whispered them into the silence of the car. As he spoke the words, he realized where he had heard them before- that night on the FTI building.

_It wasn't the heat of the moment…_ Suddenly it all made sense.

True to his word, Arnold never forgot Helga Pataki. How could he forget the girl who loved him?

* * *

Sorry it was such a long flashback! I promise we'll get back to the present in the next chapter. Just needed a little backstory.


	3. Chapter 3

Disc: I do not own Hey Arnold in any way. That privilege belongs to the great Craig Bartlett and the idiotic Nickelodeon for getting rid of the most brilliant producer they ever had. BRING BACK CRAIG!

A/N- Hey guys. I just want to thank you all for all the reviews and everything. I've tried posting things at other sites before and I've never had this warm of a welcome. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!

_One Last Shindig_

_Hatterlet_

_Chapter 3_

Helga gazed at the blond moving swiftly across the cheap tile flooring of the bowling alley's entrance. When he had looked at her upon entering, she was lost in a flood of memories- stalking his bedroom window at night, painting her face and performing ritual dances around a handmade shrine, diving deep into piles of garbage and refuse to find a certain blue hat- she sighed, remembering her obsession.

But seeing Arnold in person once again brought on another feeling- fear. She knew he had figured out what she told him that day three years ago. She knew that inevitably he was going to ask her about it. And she was afraid. Suddenly the locket about her neck felt terribly cold. She gasped, trying to draw air into her withered lungs. The world swam red before her eyes and she felt faint. Terrified, she lurched towards the ladies room.

Helga stood before the mirror in the bathroom grasping both sides of the chipped porcelain sink. Her eyes were red rimmed from a deluge of panicked tears, and her hair hung limp about her face from clutching fistfuls of it too hard. A sound at the door caused her to gasp again and dart inside one of the stalls as Phoebe and Lila came into the room.

"Helga?" came Phoebe's voice from outside her stall.

"Are you ok? We're ever so worried about you." Said Lila. Helga grimaced and spun a length of toilet paper off the spool and mopped at her streaming nose. As soon as she felt vaguely presentable she pushed the stall door open and stepped out. "Helga!" cried Lila before she cut her off with one rough hand.

"Stuff it, pigtails." Helga said gruffly, calling on a nickname not used in years.

"Helga, we're worried about you. We figured you'd be happy to see Arnold."

"Happy? HAPPY?!" seethed Helga. Why would I be happy to see that little football head?"

"Enough, Helga!" Snapped Lila with unexpected force. "You can't lie to us. We know how you felt about Arnold, there is no point in hiding. Now tell us what is wrong!" Helga felt the blood drain out of her face as she realized she was talking to two of the only people who knew. Defeated, she replied

"I'm- afraid." She whispered.

"Why, Helga?" asked Phoebe.

"I just am. Do you remember FTI?" she asked weakly, disbelief that she was actually voicing this lacing every word. Both girls nodded, remembering the terrible situation.

"Well, I told Arnold everything that night. I even kissed the football-head" she admitted rather sheepishly. "But once everything blew over, we both just decided not to talk about it, you know, heat of the moment. And things went back to normal. But when he moved away, I couldn't stand it anymore. I told him the truth, but I don't think he realized it right away." She clutched the sink, watching her knuckles turn white. "But surely he's figured it out by now. And that's why I'm afraid. I'm afraid he still won't want to be with me."

"Oh, Helga. It will be alright." Phoebe said, giving her friend a tight hug.

"No, Pheebs. It won't. I'm going to have to handle this carefully." And Helga pushed her way out of the bathroom and back into the noise of the bowling alley. Both girls looked at each other, and then pushed out of the bathroom themselves, hoping to keep their friend from messing up bigtime.

* * *

Arnold glanced up as a pink-clad figure brusquely stomped back up to the bowling platform. He smiled at her ,and rose to greet her as she rejoined the group. However, when he extended a hand in greeting, she roughly shoved it away.

"One-side, moron!" she jeered as she pushed past him. Astounded by her rejection, Arnold could only gape as she picked up a ball and began her turn.

"Helga?" he asked, stunned. Surely she had not stayed this callous, sour, bitter person all these years? No. He could tell because all the other bowlers were staring at her as well. She planted both of her balls promptly in the gutter and returned to her seat.

"What?" she retorted, tossing a piece of gum into her mouth and snapping it. Arnold crossed to her chair and grabbed her by the arm. "Hey, Arnoldo, hands of the goods." She complained as he drug her away from the group.

"Helga, what happened to you? You weren't this way when I left. " he pleaded.

"Yeah, well, people change." She said, popping a bubble in his face. Helga looked closely at her golden-haired angel and swooned inwardly. Here he was, pleading with her. She sighed as a wave of guilt washed over her. She opened her mouth to apologize when a shriek interrupted her. Both she and Arnold turned to see Phoebe screaming at the top of her lungs. Without a word, both blondes abandoned their discussion to see what was wrong.

* * *

Gerald, bored with the way the evening seemed to be going, decided to mix things up. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the little box that had previously occupied his glove compartment.

"Hey, Phoebe?" he asked, trying to get her attention.

"Hm?" she turned to face him as he went down on one knee. Lord, she was gorgeous. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise as the sight of Gerald on his knee with a box registered. "Oh-my-"

"Phoebe Heyerdahl, I've known you since preschool and I've never found anyone I'd rather spend my life with more than you. Will you marry me?" Gerald asked, popping the box open. It was nothing spectacular, just a small diamond in a silver band, but Phoebe's eyes widened even more.

"Gerald, I-" the entire group held their breath "I-" Gerald took her hand in his.

"HOW DARE YOU, GERALD JOHANNSSEN! YOU KNOW I WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE AND DON'T WANT TO TRY AND START A FAMILY RIGHT OFF! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF ASKING ME SOMETHING LIKE THIS ON THE NIGHT OF OUR GRADUATION?!" she screamed, tears pouring down her face. Although he felt his heart breaking at her refusal, Gerald noted with some small satisfaction that Arnold and Helga had returned from their private discussion.

"Well, Phoebe, you haven't exactly answered my question-" he said, still holding on to a tiny shred of hope. She wiped her eyes with the edge of her sleeve and looked down at him, still kneeling.

"Yes." She smiled, and pulled him to his feet. The entire group cheered as he planted a kiss on his new fiancée. "But you have to promise me we will wait. I'm still going to college."  
"I know." Gerald said, giddily. "But I couldn't let you run off and meet someone new, now could I?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered and all the television screens guttered out. A voice came over the loudspeaker-

"Sorry, folks. Closing time." A collective groan rose from all the patrons in the alley as they began to collect their belongings. Gerald clasped Phoebe close to him, and smiled as he saw Arnold pursuing Helga out the front door. _They'll figure it out._

Whee! Another chapter down. Let me know what you all think. I'm actually really liking the new and improved Lila!

And I apologize for the weak proposal. Gerald was never purported to be exactly imaginative when it came to stuff like that. Besides, he just wanted to shake things up. :)

Cheers!

* * *


End file.
